This past Saturday, the two local Linn County wrestling teams traveled to Bethany for the Class One, District Four Tournament. For the seventh consecutive year, Brookfield won the District Championship. Both the Dogs and the Marceline Tigers are sending multiple wrestlers to this weekend’s State Wrestling Championship.

Looking at the team scores, Brookfield had 205 points as a team, winning by 51 points over the hosting team from South Harrison. Marceline scored 74 team points, taking ninth, and falling one point short of eighth place Maysville and two points short of Maryville.

“This is Brookfield’s seventh year in a row to win the District Championship,” said Head Coach Ben Jackson. “There’s been tremendous dedication, support, effort, and time put in by the wrestlers, their parents, youth club coaches, and the high school coaches. It takes many people, often those that don’t receive enough recognition, which makes a continuous tradition like that possible. It makes me feel fortunate and thankful to just be apart of it.”

“I was sad to see a few kids lose some tough matches that could have gone either way,” said Head Coach Josh Moore. “We knew it was going to be tough going in to it. We lost one senior this weekend and the rest are coming back next year. Eric Thurman lost a tough one to go to state, but he has gotten a lot better over the past two years I have been around him. All-in-all I wish we could have gotten a few more through but those that didn’t make it through will have it as motivation to work hard and get better in the offseason.”

Linn County will once again be well represented this weekend at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, with a plethora of locals from both teams placing in the top four and punching their tickers to the State Championships.

“I’m excited about the opportunities that lay in front of Dalton, Kyle, and Austin,” said Coach Moore. “Dalton wrestled very well at districts and put himself in a good position entering the state tournament. Kyle showed a lot of heart this weekend wrestling with a torn ACL and still qualifying for state. Austin had a couple tough matches this district tournament in one of the toughest districts top to bottom in the entire state. He is entering the state tournament with a full head of steam though, and I believe will surprise some people.”

“All of the guys, when wrestling up to their potential, are capable of placing in the top six at the State tournament,” said Coach Jackson. “Obviously winning Districts should give the team added confidence going in. We’ll need to start Thursday with a focused mindset and wrestle our style. There’s still some things to correct from Friday and Saturday, but I’m optimistic about our preparation.”